“What are you doing here?” a voice asked beside me, and I knew exactly who it was before I turned to see Sterling, standing there, leaning against the bar.
I shrugged. “Just having drinks with some friends.” Trying to give off a I-don’t-give-a-fuck vibe.
“Just friends?” he questioned, looking over at the table at Oliver with a raised eyebrow.
My eyebrows rose. “What’s it to you?”
He shrugged. “Nothing,” he said.
Ouch! My heart twisted in pain, I bit my lip, trying to hide the hurt in my face as the bartended came back, placing my drinks on a tray. I grabbed the tray, turning on my heel away from Sterling, not saying a word, placing the tray on the table, everyone grabbed their drinks.
“Thanks Tash,” Anna smiled sweetly at me.
“Thanks,” Isaac and Oliver said in unison.
“Thanks Tash,” Nic and Sophia said in unison, then looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes and smiled.
I smiled. “It’s okay,” I replied.
After a few drinks I was on the dancefloor, my hands in the air and a grin plastered on my face. Ariana Grande was playing through the speakers and I started singing along, my hips swaying back and forth as I ran my hands down my body, letting the beat take me over.
Anna was dancing with Isaac, her back to him, grinding against him as he ran his hands down her body, whispering in her ear as she blushed and giggled. Sophia was dancing with Nic, her hands around the back of his neck and his hands on her waist as they swayed together. Oliver watched me from the table with a smirk on his face, and out of the corner of my eye I seen Sterling watching me, he looked over at Oliver and glared. I wonder what that’s about?
I continued dancing through the next few songs, letting the beat take me over, Isaac and Anna continued dancing, Nic and Sophia were sitting down at the table, chatting away. I smiled; glad my friends were having fun. Nic and Sophia would make a cute couple.
When the song finished, I grabbed my clutch, heading to the bathroom to touch up my makeup, letting the door slam shut behind me, I glanced at myself in the mirror, reapplying my faded lipstick, pulling my compact out and touched up my makeup.
The door to the bathroom opened suddenly and I heard a lock click shut, turning towards the door to ask whoever it was what they were doing, but a blur shot towards me and I screamed.
Hands grabbed me by my waist, and I gasped as I seen Sterling in the mirror, holding me, looking like a savage.
My heart skipped a beat, and I gulped audibly. His hands were warm through the fabric and I bit my lip as electricity ran through my veins from his touch.
“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” I breathed, my chest heaving with every breath I took.
“What are you doing here with him?” His eyes were bright, looking at me in the mirror.
I turned in his arms, looking up at him. “I thought you didn’t care?” I shot back, reminding him what he said earlier, his eyes darkened as he looked down at me. “What are you doing here with her?”
He glared down at me. “You don’t get to ask me that question,” he growled, his hands tightening on my hips, pulling me closer.
My eyebrows rose. “And you can ask me why I’m here with someone?” I questioned.
He stepped back, letting go of me and ran his hands through his hair, his biceps flexing. “No,” he replied.
I stepped forward, looking up at him from underneath my lashes. “Then why did you?” My heart hammered in my chest.
He stepped back. “Stop looking at me like that.”
I furrowed my brow, confused. “Like what?”
“You know,” he growled.
“I actually don’t,” I replied.
“The way you look me up and down, checking me out when you think I’m not looking.” He sighed. I could smell alcohol on his breath, and I wasn’t sure how much he had to drink but I knew I had a fair bit in my system. “I’m your teacher.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Then why do you look back?” I asked him.
He glared down at me. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
Stepping towards him, I grabbed his arm before he could walk to far, electricity shot through my fingertips. “Why did you come in here?”
He ran his free hand through his hair, which I was starting to notice was something he did when he was nervous or thinking. “I shouldn’t have.” His brows pinched together. “It was a mistake.”
I stepped back, removing my hand. “Then go.”
For a moment he looked at me conflicted, reaching out like he was going to grab me, but then sped off, unlocking the door and leaving me standing there in shock. I couldn’t believe that just happened, looking at myself in the mirror my cheeks were flushed and my eyes alight with a sparkling gleam. He likes me.
Why else would he look at me like that and touch me like that? Why would he be asking me if I came here with Oliver? I grabbed my clutch, took a deep breath, trying to steady my heart and exited the bathroom.
I watched as Sterling stood from his table, offering his hand out to Melissa, she took it smiling, he put his other hand around her waist and led her to the door, before he left he turned to look at me, he opened the door for her and followed her out. A knife sliced its way through my heart, I swallowed the lump back in my throat, heading to the bar and ordering a drink.
I kept drinking and dancing like nothing had happened, even though my body was still aflame with Sterling’s touch and my heart crippled as I wondered what he was doing and if he was with Melissa still. I wanted to take my pain out on something, and what better way than to piss off Selene.
I sat back down at the table, looking at Oliver, Anna, Sophia, Isaac and Nic. “You know what we should do?” I grinned evilly.
“What?” Oliver asked smiling.
I sipped my drink innocently, shrugging. “We should crash Selene’s party.”
“Ohmigosh yes!” Anna exclaimed loudly, jumping up from her seat. Isaac looked at her with a smirk.
Oliver chuckled. “Let’s do it.”
We all chugged down the rest of our drinks and sat on the bus, excitedly, as we made our way back to the Academy.
***
“Shhh!” I hissed to the person behind me giggling. We were sneaking up the side of dormitory. I was at the front of the group, Oliver behind me, Sophia, Anna, Isaac and Nic was behind everyone.
We crept to the door in silence, I looked through the window, Selene had a fake smile plastered on her face as she walked around the room talking to people. Music blared through some speakers and I grinned excitedly.
I ducked down behind a bush, opening the door and pushing it open, I jumped up, entering the building, a battle cry leaving my mouth as I charged in, the footsteps of my friends charging in behind me. I lifted my weapon, pressing down on the trigger and laughed manically as water spurted from the nozzle and hit Selene’s dress.
Selene screamed, and I laughed even harder, emptying the water pistol I had gotten from Oliver all around the room and soaking Selene and the other party members. Water went flying everywhere as the rest of my friends squirted water around the room. A few people squealed, some laughed, and some just stood there shocked.
Selene screeched in rage and stomped her foot. “How dare you ruin my party?” She shouted at me, looking pissed. Selene headed for my direction, but took three steps and slipped on water, doing the splits as she hit the floor with a screech. “Ahhh!” I threw my head back and laughed, turning to Oliver giving him a high five, laughing my ass off.
“What the hell is going on here?” I turned to see Sterling standing at the door looking inside the dormitory, pissed. I tried to hide my water gun behind my back but as soon as I moved his eyes swivelled to me and the water gun in my hand. “You six can clean this mess up right now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, it was still worth it,” I told him with smile and Oliver grinned at me.
Sterling glared at me before turning
and walking away. Selene pulled herself up off the floor, walking in her heels, slipping but not falling again, unfortunately, and headed up the stairs. Her friends followed behind closely.
I found some towels in a cupboard and handed them out to my friends as we started cleaning up the water. “That was amazing,” Oliver said.
Anna laughed. “It was so worth it, seeing Selene slip over like that,” she agreed.
After cleaning up the water we headed to the lake, the rest of Selene’s party followed behind us and we all partied at the lake, drinking and dancing to music. A lot of people came up to me saying how what we had done was epic. We partied to the early hours of the morning and I stumbled back to my room, showered and passed out on my bed.
***
I woke up Sunday morning my hangover was brutal but I went to the cafeteria and got myself two thermos’s, four bottles of water and spent the day hydrating and drinking blood while lying in bed thinking about the night before and how Sterling had confronted me in the bathroom at the bar, the way his hands felt against me and the way he stormed out, taking Melissa with him.
When I went for my morning run on Monday, Sterling hadn’t joined me, and a pang went through my heart that I tried to ignore. In my afternoon class he was cranky, as usual but he didn’t look at me like he usually did.
He didn’t show up for our run on Tuesday either and I was starting to worry if he ever would, but I kept telling myself I shouldn’t care, but I still did. I ran alone again, opening the door to The Hub after I finished.
Wednesday morning was another no show. I expected it now though. My afternoon classes with him were horrible, I didn’t catch him looking at me and he was all serious.
By the time Thursday rolled around I didn’t expect to see him on my run. I started to wonder if maybe I had imagined him running with me, catching him looking at me, and him coming into the bathroom that night, but something told me that it did happen. But the longer he stayed away the more the pain gnawed away at my insides. I was trying my best to ignore it most days, but when I was alone it just ate away, I didn’t know why because it wasn’t like I’d known him for long.
I sat in my Enhanced Senses class, Professor Bradshaw stood at the front of the classroom. “Today we will be having our lessons in the woods today,” he announced. “If you will grab your things we will go outside.”
Shoving my stuff in my bag and walking outside with the rest of the class, following Professor Bradshaw into the woods. After a few minutes of walking he stopped in a small clearing. “We will be using our senses to see what we can hear and smell while out in the open. You will really have to focus as there’s lots of sounds and it can be quite overwhelming,” he said, pacing back and for the in front of the class. “If you want to find somewhere quiet to work, make sure you write out what you hear and smell so you can email me your list.”
Walking over to the far end of the clearing I sat down on the soft grass, Sophia and Anna sat down and we formed a small triangle. I closed my eyes, taking a deep steadying breath in, releasing it while focusing on the sounds and smells around me. I could smell pine trees mixed in with grass and dirt, the sound of the trees rustling through the breeze making my hair float around me as it got swept up in the wind. I typed out everything I heard and smelt.
The sound of a leaf falling from a tree and hitting the ground with a small crunch. Ants marching in a line through the grass, making a bristling sound as they continued their quick pace, chirping and rubbing their antenna together.
Somewhere deep in the woods an animal scuttered around, stepping on twigs and crunching the leaves beneath their hooves, a deer made a soft bleating noise, fingers typing on the screen of their notebooks. The sounds of nature were beautiful, I still found it hard to believe the things I could hear.
I sent the list to Professor Bradshaw through email, pressing send as the bell rang, getting up to head to Control 101 with Professor Winters.
I was starting to really hate my lessons with him as he was always deducting points for the silliest things. He was always moody, and the lessons were hard, cruel even.
He was already waiting in the classroom and we sat down towards the back of the classroom. “Today we will be working on our reactions,” he said with a dark look in his eyes.
Oh no. He walked up to where Selene was talking with Dawn and Silver, not paying attention, he blew an airhorn in their face, the sound pierced my ears, I couldn’t have imagined being that close. “You will pay attention in my class.”
And with a groan I settled in my seat for another lesson of torture with Professor Bradshaw. “We need to control our reactions so it’s easier to not lose control. The more control you have over your emotions and reactions, the better control you will have of your vampirism,” he said, then in a flash he pulled the airhorn out and pressed down, the sound filling the room, I flinched, covering my ears. “Natasha Marshall, Sophia Montgomery, Silver Roberts, Adrienne Vargas all lose fifty points for flinching.” I groaned.
This has to be against the rules. There was no was this could be allowed, but no one complained and if they did, they got told off for questioning their Professor’s teaching methods. This school is crazy.
When the class finished, I was relieved to get out of there, my ears still ringing from the high-pitched squeal of the airhorn. The walk to the cafeteria was short, grabbing some chips and a thermos, sitting down beside my friends, pouting.
Grace’s mouth moved like she was saying something to me but I couldn’t hear. “What was that? I can’t hear anything,” I told her, my eyes squinting as I tried to read her lips unsuccessfully. She threw her head back and laughed, I sipped at the blood, my fangs kept in place as I focused on keeping them retracted, the ringing in my ears fading the more I sipped. The sweetness of the blood filled my mouth, making me less agitated. I sighed in delight.
“How was class?” Grace asked with a smile once I could hear her again.
“Awful,” I filled her in on the details and she sat there with her eyes wide as I told her about the airhorn and losing points for flinching.
She shrugged afterwards and looked at me guiltily. “I mean, it is harsh, but his tactics are working,” she admitted. “Your fangs don’t pop out nearly as often and they used to every time you drank blood or got pissed off, they’d pop out all the time.”
As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. They were working but the way he was going about it was all wrong. “I know, it just sucks. I thought I was going to go deaf.”
Anna and Sophia nodded their heads in agreement. “Same,” Anna agreed with wide eyes.
Grace smiled at us. “You’ll be fine, you heal quick.” She always had a unique perspective on everything, her personality was calm and chill, not much phased her, which must have been the wolf in her, she always listened when you needed to vent but then helped fix the problem. Grace always told things how it was, even when you didn’t want to listen, she was strong and capable of doing anything, and I was certain she knew it, but she was always modest about it. It made her a great friend and a fun person to be around. She didn’t always hang out with us though, which was disappointing, but I understood that it was in her nature to always want to be around her pack, even if some of them infuriated her at times. But I understood because my friends were becoming the family I had never known.
“What’s everyone doing this weekend?” Sophia asked.
Grace shrugged. “The pack are having a party,” she said with a smile.
I rolled my eyes and looked exasperated at her. “The pack are always having a party.”
She looked at me innocently. “We can’t be away from each other for too long and if Alpha wants to party; we party with Alpha.” She shrugged.
“Oliver hardly ever parties with his pack,” I told her dismissively.
Grace barked a laugh. “That’s because he doesn’t have to worry about his place in his pack, he’s going to be Alpha when his father steps down,” she told me, actin
g as though I should have known. Which, if I was being honest, I should have. “But I, for instance, have to try and keep my place in the pack, especially if I want to mate with someone of a more higher ranking and if I don’t show up to enough of these things, they could give me the boot.” She shrugged like it was no big deal, even though it would’ve been a big deal.
“Oh.” Realisation dawned on me, I never thought there was a possibility of her being dismissed from her pack. I knew how close they all were, so it would’ve sucked. Most of them had grown up together, played in the same sandboxes as kids, running through the woods together as pups for the first time, it would’ve sucked losing them, it’d be like losing her family.
“Do you have any worthy potential mates?” Anna asked, curiously.
Grace gave us a big grin. “Of course,” a girl, who I recognised as Gabriella Luna, said with a smile, she was part of Grace’s pack and they were close friends. Gabriella Luna, who everyone called Luna, her hair was silver, and eyes the colour of the sky at twilight, the deepest and darkest blue, she had high cheekbones, naturally full lips surrounded by a heart-shaped face. Her hair always parted off-centre.
Grace stood up and they nuzzled into each other’s necks in a greeting, sniffing, then sat down like nothing had happened. Werewolf behaviour always intrigued me every time I seen it because I hardly seen Oliver acting like that, maybe it was an Alpha thing. “There’s a few potential pack members, but I’m not looking on settling just yet, so I’ve just been enjoying their company.” She shrugged.
Werewolves tended to be polyamorous until they settled down and found their life mate, which was part of the reason I was keeping my distance from Oliver, because who knew how many girls he took to his bed at night and I didn’t really want to get entangled with that. There was also the fact that I was still pining over my extremely hot and totally off-limits Professor, but I couldn’t really share that detail with anyone.
Oliver strode up to the table and raised his brows. “Well, this sure is an interesting topic to discuss at lunch,” he stated, sitting down beside me and put his arm around my shoulder, I elbowed him in the ribs.
Silverwood Academy Book 1 Page 9
